Brain stimulation device maker opens first US office in Cambridge

A Spanish company that makes a helmet-like devices to both monitor and stimulate the brain announced the opening of its first U.S. office at the Cambridge Innovation Center today and plans to hire three employees here by the end of the year.

Neuroelectrics is a spinoff of Starlab Neuroscience Research, and both are based in Barcelona, Spain. While Starlab offers electroencephalography (EEG) data analysis services, Neuroelectrics markets and sells two devices: StarStim, a brain stimulator using so-called transcranial current stimulation, which it says is being researched as a possible way to help with pain, depression, addiction and post-stroke rehabilitation; and Enobio, a wireless EEG brain monitoring device for research. The company aims to “become the trusted leader in brain health by providing measurement tools and making neuromodulation affordable and available for every patient in need,” said CEO Ana Maiques in a statement.

The company worked with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to locate its office at One Broadway, saying it moved to the area in part to be closer to several clients and partners in the area, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, MIT, Boston University, Boston Children Hospital, Spaulding Rehabilitation Center, Brown University, UMass Lowell and VA Boston. Also, it said it hopes to follow more closely the work being done by a scientific adviser of the company, Prof. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, director of the Berenson-Allen Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an associate dean for Clinical and Translational Research at Harvard Medical School.

According to the company’s LinkedIn page, the privately held firm was founded in 2011 and has fewer than 11 employees. Starlab’s website says it was founded in Barcelona in 2000.